The Cameroon Volleyball Federation, FECAVOLLEY, confirmed this week that new head coaches and assistants have been appointed for both the U18 girls’ and boys’ sides, ahead of fixtures already on the calendar for the year ahead.
The decision was signed off by federation president Bello Bourdanne in Yaoundé, and it brings together a mix of continuity and fresh responsibility. Two of the four appointees already know these age groups well, having served as assistants before being promoted to lead the sides outright. The other two step in from long careers in club and grassroots coaching.
For the girls, the federation has turned to Donald Fabien Nsounfon as head coach, and he is no stranger to this particular dressing room. As assistant to the U18 side in recent years, he had a hand in some of its finest results: the African U18 title in 2021, a silver medal at the 2022 African U19 Championships, and Cameroon’s appearance at the U18 World Championship back in 2019. Handing him the top job feels less like a gamble than a federation simply rewarding a coach who already understands what winning with this group looks like.
Alongside him will be Edith Christine Djoumekoum Tagakou as assistant head coach. A former high-level player herself, she has spent recent years with FATGO’O Volleyball Club, where she earned a strong reputation for nurturing young players and helping push the club further up the national standings. That sort of grounding tends to matter in youth coaching, where patience with development often counts for just as much as tactics.
On the boys’ side, Martial Djoby Mateke takes the reins as head coach. He has spent more than fourteen years working in youth coaching, a career that has carried him through several of Cameroon’s leading clubs, and he wore the national colours himself earlier in his playing days.
His assistant will be Yves Honoré Malam, a former player turned well-regarded technician whose work has been largely based in the country’s northern regions. For years he has quietly built up the game there, scouting and shaping young talent away from the usual spotlight of Yaoundé and Douala. His appointment owes as much to that grassroots effort as it does to his coaching credentials.
All four hold FIVB Level II certification and come from backgrounds in physical education, which is not unusual for Cameroonian volleyball coaches, though it is worth noting all the same. It suggests a federation that, for these particular roles, has leaned on teaching experience just as much as technical pedigree.
According to FECAVOLLEY’s official communiqué, the appointments come with an eye on upcoming international engagements for both age groups, and the federation says it intends to keep building competitive squads as part of its wider policy of developing the next generation of players. The coaches’ stipends, it confirmed, will be drawn from the budget already allocated to international sporting competitions, in line with existing rules.
